Speedway's new look up for planning board vote

Wednesday

Oct 24, 2012 at 8:05 PM

Plans are beginning to take shape for the Speedway's massive overhaul.

EILEEN ZAFFIRO-KEANSTAFF WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH -- Five new colorful entrances to Daytona International Speedway. A second pedestrian bridge arching over International Speedway Boulevard. An expanded grandstand area with thousands more seats, new places to buy food and modernized restrooms. Plans are beginning to take shape for the Speedway's massive overhaul, starting with a revamping and expansion of the front stretch grandstands that's up for a vote of the city's Planning Board Thursday night. If the Planning Board and the Board of Directors for International Speedway Corporation both sign off on the major renovation, the 53-year-old Speedway's makeover could begin next year and wrap up in a few years. The grandstand overhaul plan doesn't need City Commission approval. "I know from conversations I've had it's going to be spectacular," said Mayor Glenn Ritchey. "It's going to be quite an anchor for everything happening on the International Speedway Boulevard corridor. It's going to be awesome in scope. We'll be so proud to see it there." The changes to the grandstands would be tough to miss for people driving past the Speedway, said Rich Walton, the city's director of planning. "Large-scale stairs and escalators will provide a civic-inspired grand entry to the race," Walton wrote in a recent report to the Planning Board. The newly designed site "will flow from the edge of International Speedway Boulevard up to the main concourse, stitching the grandstands and the community together and creating a stronger gateway to Daytona Beach," Walton said. The grandstand overhaul is just one piece of a larger vision Daytona International Speedway and International Speedway Corp. have for 663 acres around the track and across the street on the north side of International Speedway Boulevard. ISC and DIS are looking to transform the properties into a racing and entertainment complex that could eventually include new hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, movie theaters, shops and possibly a casino or two if state law changes to allow that. The sprawling complex could include up to 2 million square feet of retail space, 1,785 hotel rooms, 1,500 multi-family residential units and movie theaters with a combined 5,000 seats. It's not clear when the ISC's board of directors will vote on the project, said Lenny Santiago, the Speedway's spokesman. Speedway officials say it will probably take decades to make all their hopes realities, but they're laying the groundwork now and beginning to talk to potential developers and businesses. Last week, city commissioners OK'd the zoning changes that make all the new development possible, and the grandstand site plan approval is another necessary green light for the Speedway. If other pieces of the project start to move in coming years, a string of other site plans will need approval as well. Before work could start on the grandstands, Speedway officials would also need permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Department of Transportation, St. Johns River Water Management District and Federal Aviation Administration. Volusia County, which owns some of the 55 acres involved in the grandstand overhaul, would also need to sign off. The grandstand work would probably be tackled over the course of a couple years, with bursts of demolition and construction happening before and after the racing season, city officials say. For now there are no plans to make any major changes to the backstretch seating, Santiago said. The focus would be on the front stretch grandstands, which span nearly a full mile, he said. An engineering drawing DIS submitted to the city shows five new entrances evenly spaced along the front stretch grandstands. Walton said sponsors could be tied to each entrance, and they could have vendors just inside the walls of the grandstands. The Speedway doesn't currently have clear entranceways, but the five new "fan injectors" would make it "clear from a distance where you go in," Walton said. The proposal before the Planning Board calls for the wall of the front stretch grandstands to move out toward International Speedway Boulevard at least a few hundred feet, according to the drawing. Some of the extra space would be used to greatly add to the current 147,000 seats at the track, Speedway and city officials have said. "The way we're looking at it is it would be a complete overhaul of the grandstands," Santiago said. "There would be new wider seats, new suites. We're looking at new experiences for fans with dining, entertainment, merchandise sales, areas to congregate and spend time." Speedway officials have also said there would be new metal panel screening on the exterior wall of the grandstands, giving the facility a sleek modern look. Speedway officials have not revealed how much of the grandstands could be torn down and rebuilt. The drawing shows the Daytona 500 Experience building staying where it is. While there's talk of demolition in city documents, "it doesn't mean the whole thing will be flattened," Santiago said. "We still need to host events."